Campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Marks said Harris is cooperating with the investigation but is "not a target."

Yet. They can give her a target letter any time they want. _________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Ill do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman

Some Republican leaders have warned that Harris  the former Florida secretary of state who played a key role in the 2000 recount that gave George W. Bush the White House  is so hated among Democrats that she could drag down the entire GOP ticket.

oh, wouldn't it be oh-so-lovely if she did? one really wonders how someone who is so obviously a political idiot got into the offices she did.

but i do remember now, hearing that she too knew old randy duke's good buddy mitch.

heh - and even after being bribed, she couldn't deliver the goods. that can't encourage her big-money contributors._________________aka: neverscared!

This is the Democrats master plan, allow the GOP to controll all three brances of government, become corrupt beyond their wildest expectations, and run unopposed in future congressional and senate races after the subpoenas come in.

And here I thought all this time they were out of ideas!_________________bi-chromaticism is the extraordinary belief that there exists only two options
each polar opposite to each other
where one is completely superior to the other.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Bob Ney agreed Friday to plead guilty to two criminal charges in the congressional corruption probe spawned by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Papers in the case said the Ohio Republican had accepted trips worth more than $170,000.

Justice Department officials said prosecutors would recommend the 52-year-old congressman serve 27 months in prison. A formal admission of guilt would make Ney the first lawmaker to confess to crimes in a Republican-heavy scandal that erupted at the dawn of the election year.

After months of stoutly denying wrongdoing, Ney signed a formal plea agreement that outlined charges of conspiracy and making false statements by not disclosing gifts he received from Abramoff on financial disclosure forms required by Congress.

In exchange for the improper gifts, Ney offered legislation on three occasions in 2002 to benefit Abramoff's lobbying clients and helped another client win a multi-million-dollar government contract for wireless communications, court papers said.

His lawyer said Ney had begun treatment for alcohol dependency, and would likely make a formal admission of guilt in a court appearance on Oct. 13.

''People must have faith and confidence in their elected officials,'' Alice Fisher, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said as the plea bargain was announced. She said Ney had ''acted in his own interests, not in the interests of his constituents.''

In a written statement, Ney said he had ''made serious mistakes and am sorry for them. I am very sorry for the pain I have caused to my family, my constituents and my colleagues.'' The statement did not say whether he intended to serve out the remainder of his term.

Documents released by the Justice Department indicated Ney had signed the plea agreement on Wednesday, and it was filed with the court on Friday.

As recently as early summer, Ney had insisted he would seek a seventh term in his sprawling congressional district in eastern Ohio. He dropped his plans last month at the prodding of party leaders who feared the loss of his seat in the fall elections.

The first charge accuses Ney of conspiring to commit ''honest services'' fraud, a combination of mail and wire fraud often used in public corruption cases. The second count charges Ney with not revealing his gifts from Abramoff on financial disclosure forms.

Ney acknowledged accepting all-expense-paid and reduced-price trips to play golf in Scotland in August 2002, to gamble and vacation in New Orleans in May 2003 and to vacation in New York in August 2003. The total cost of all the trips exceeded $170,000, prosecutors said. Ney also admitted accepting meals and sports and concert tickets for himself and his staff.

In his statement, Ney apologized for his actions and said he recently realized ''a dependence on alcohol has been a problem for me.''

''I am not making any excuses, and I take full responsibility for my actions. Over the years, I have worked to help others, but now I am the one that needs help,'' Ney's statement said. ''I am seeking professional help for this problem. I am hopeful that with counseling, time and the support of my family and friends, I will be able to deal with my dependency.''

The 52-year-old congressman did not participate in any of the 10 roll call votes in the House on Thursday, an indication that he was away from the Capitol.

Republican voters in Ney's district selected a replacement candidate Thursday as word of the legal developments surfaced. State Sen. Joy Padgett, backed by party leaders, won easily and will face Democrat Zack Space in the fall.

Ney consistently denied any wrongdoing, even after his former chief of staff pleaded guilty in May. The aide, Neil Volz, confessed to conspiring to corrupt the congressman and others with trips and other aid. Volz became a business partner of Abramoff after leaving the congressional payroll.

Ney had a unique power perch in the House when the year dawned, as chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over the internal workings of the 435-member House. Speaker Dennis Hastert pressured Ney into surrendering his committee chairmanship earlier this year as concern rippled through the GOP ranks about the Abramoff scandal.

Any guilty plea almost certainly would renew Democratic charges of a Republican ''culture of corruption'' in the House.

While Ney becomes the first member of Congress to plead guilty in the probe, a second lawmaker, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., is at the center of a separate investigation involving alleged bribery. He has not been charged and denies all wrongdoing.

In addition to Abramoff and Volz, the scandal has produced guilty pleas by two former congressional aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay resigned from Congress earlier in the year. He has not been charged in the federal investigation, but is under indictment on state charges in Texas in a different case. He has denied all wrongdoing.

Prosecutors also won a conviction in the Abramoff case against former White House official David Safavian, formerly the Bush administration's top procurement official.

When Volz pleaded guilty in May, he listed 16 actions he said his old boss had taken on behalf of Abramoff's clients from January 2000 through April 2004. During that period, Abramoff and his lobbying team showered Ney with campaign donations, trips, meals at Abramoff's restaurant and tickets to sporting events and concerts.

In 2000, Ney read remarks into the Congressional Record helpful to Abramoff, who was trying to acquire a Florida casino cruise-ship company.

well, he's running as an independent, in a place that already has a republican candidate, and where his own party has rejected him rather forcefully. doesn't leave a lot of votes for him to get. yeah, afraid old joe is history._________________aka: neverscared!

In a statement released by his lawyers, Mr. Ney, 52, suggested that his criminal acts were related to alcoholism.

I have come to recognize that a dependence on alcohol has been a problem for me, said Mr. Ney, who friends say entered an in-patient alcohol-treatment facility this week. I am not making any excuses, and I take full responsibility for my actions.

so what we need do to break this cycle of corruption it to take ney at his word and institute mandatory testing and psychological certification for substance dependancy and abuse before letting anyone run for office...